Headgear attachment mechanism for face-protective shields



March 7, 1961 G, Z, EDWARDS ETAL 2,973,522

HEADGEAR ATTACHMENT MECHANISM FOR FAGE-PROTECTIVE SHIELDS Filed July 19, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR. GEORGE ZAHNOR EDWARDS GEORGE A. LANGFORD March 7, 1961 G, Z EDWARDS TAL 2,973,522

HEADGEAR ATTACHMENT MECHANISM FOR FACE-PROTECTIVE SHIELDS Filed July 19, 1957 2 Sheees-Shil 2 INVENTOR. GEORGE ZAHNOR EDWARDS GEORGE A. LANGFORD ATTORNEYS United States Patent O HEADGEAR ATTACHMENT MECHANISM FOR FACE-PROTECTIVE SHIELDS George Zahnor Edwards, 3400 South 2540 East, and George A. Langford, 1644 Harvard Ave., both of Salt Lake City, Utah Filed July 19, 1957, Ser. No. 673,074

14 Claims. (Cl. 2 8) This invention relates to face-protective shield and headgear combinations, such as are Widely used by in.- dustrial Welders.

The art of welding brought about the need for special face-protective shields which guard the eyes and faces of Welders against injury from the intense glare of Welding operations and from ying bits of debris given off thereby. Through the years, the construction of such face-protective shields and of headgear used to support them in working position over Welders faces has, in and of itself, become an important indstrial art.

These face-protective shields are usually'of helmet formation, being fabricated from thin, tough, and hard berboard sheet material folded into proper formation and riveted together to retain such formation. A Window of heat and glare resistant glass is provided in the front Wall of each such shield or helmet at eye level.

The headgear may be merely a band structure formed to fit upon the head as a support for the shield or helmet, or it may be a so-called hard hat to cover and protect the head.

Early in the development of this art', it was found to be essential that provision be made for enabling the Welder to push the face-protective shield or helmet away from his face Without disturbing its connectionpwith the headgear, and, also, that provision be made to enable him to adjust the position of such shield or helmet verti'- cally with respect to the headgear so that the Window' thereof always provides the proper line of sight to the Work.

The manufacturers of this type of equipment have, in the past, developed a variety of constructions for meeting the above requirements. A very successful one of these has been that disclosed by U.S. Patent No. 2,461,604 granted to F. B Huntsman on February 15, 1949, entitled Protective Device. It has been produced in great numbers and has been Widely used in the Welding and related arts.

While the Huntsman construction and various other constructions presently on the market have been highly successful, there has been a continuing urge from Welders Who use such combination face-protective shields and headgear to make vertical adjustment of the shield relative to the headgear easier and quicker so as to speed up the Welding operation. 'i

As manufacturers of the patented Huntsman device, we have now greatly improved that construction to the tive to the headgear. It has often been necessary for a Welder to go through this operation several times bef fore being completely satisfied. Consequently, many Welders have forced themselves to be satisfied With an approximate adjustment, and have kinked their necks to attain the exact line of sight desired. Moreover, yin many welding operations the linear courseof the welding has been such as to require kinking of the neck by the Welder in order to retain the proper line of sight throughout the Welding operation, even though the initial adjustment has been perfect.

Our improved construction makes it unnecessary for the Welder to remove the shield and headgear combination from his head for adjustment purposes. Any de,- sired degree of vertical adjustment of the shield rela;- tive to the headgear may be made by the Welder With the utmost ease and rapidity While thecombination is in Working position on his head. Moreover, such adjustment his eyes, with maximum ease, speed, and precision, and

all Without removing the combination from his head.

Another object is to accomplish the above simply, economically, and with a minimum of change in existing attachment mechanisms of the type concerned.

. Fig. 2;

.scale and illustrating the attachment mechanism An outstanding feature of the invention in the ."ac'l complishment of these objects is the provision of thumbscrew adjustment means between and rigidly interconnect'- ing the shield vattachment means andy the headgear attachment means of the mechanism. L .l

Further objects and features of the invention will become apparent from'the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the` drawings:

Fig. 1 represents a left-side elevation of a typical facci' protective shield for Welders Which embodies headgear attachment mechanism conforming tothe invention,v a fragmentary portion ofthe shield being broken away to reveal the attachment mechanism in side elevation;v

Fig. 2, a fragmentary rear elevation of the shield of Fig. l, the view being drawn to a considerably enlarged com# pletely, in rear elevation;

Fig. 3, a vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4, a vertical section taken on the line 4-'-4 of Fig. 3; "l Fig. 5, a horizontal section ytaken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, parts in the background being omitted;

extent of providing completely new results in this highly l developed and highly specialized art. y

When using al1 prior shield and headgear combinations for the Welding art, including the aforementioned Huntsman device, it has been necessary for the Welder to determine, in advance of placing the combination in position on his head, the particular adjustment best adapted for the Work to be done. If he guessed incorrectly, it has been necessary for him to remove the combination from his head and readjust the face-protective Shield rela- Fig. 6, a view corresponding to that of Fig. 2, `but illustrating an embodiment of the invention having certain advantages over that of the preceding figures;

Fig. 7, a right sideelevation of the structure appearing in Fig. 6; I l

Fig. 8, a vertical section takenalong the line 8 Fig. 7; and

Fig, 9, a vertical section taken along the line 0f Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings: v The face-protective shield or Welders helmet 1`0 of.

Fig. 1 is ytypical offace-protectiveshields or livelrnets'I being presently produced by many manufac'tur by Welders. It is fabricated from a thinberboar teral, as ,aforementioned, which is exed for'forin-ati@ Yand has overlapping edges walls thereof (here the left side wall 10a) as reinforce- 'ment forthe mounting vof the headgear attachment mechanism of the invention.

In its illustrated-form, vthe'headgear attachment mechsecured together -by means 4shield or helmet '150 transversely across one of the side I lanisrn is similar in many respects -to-that-,illustrated' and described in the afore-referred-to Huntsman-'Patent No. 2,461,604. It comprises a pivot pin 14, which passes completely through reinforcing strip 13i-and the contiguous side wall 10a of theshield or helmet 10 and has its inside end xedly secured to headgear attachment means to be described hereinafter.

Pivot pin 14 isrotatable relative to reinforcementstrip 13 and shield or helmet side wall 10a. It has a highly resilient, soft rubber ring 15 mounted on its .outer end between the side wall 10a and a rigid end cap 16, the latter being held in position by means of a .washer 17 and retaining pin` 18. Y

Rotatablymounted on pivot pin 14 and'serving both'as 'a latch keeper and as means Efor attaching the mechanism to the shield or helmet 10 is ay disk19 having .-fa stem rextension 19a and an extending arm 19b. .The stemex- `tension I19a is securely r-ivetedto .reinforcement strip 13, as indicated in Fig. 1, and, therefore, serves to xedly iattach the disk 19 tothe shield or helmet 10. Disk 19 is provided with radial keeper grooves 19e, Fig. 2, on one `of its sides, which are .advantageously .formed by stamping radial ribs 19d in such disk. Disk 19'and its extensions 19a and 1911 Vare conveniently formed as Ia unitary.v metal stamping.

fFor latching co-operation with latch keeper disk 19, a correspondingly formed latch diskv` '20 is .mounted on `pivot pin 14, as an axis, in contiguous `mating relationship with latch keeper disk 19, the Ytvvo being normally pressed into mating, latched relationship by means of the resilient rubber ring 15, it being realized that radial latch ribs 20a of disk 20 fit snugly into/,the radial keeper grooves 19C of disk 19.

Themating latch disk and latch keeperdisk serve as multiple-position latching means for the mechanism Samana A `bracket; member 22a is secured at the free end of bracket arm 22 and extends -fangularly therefrom toward latch keeper disk 19.

As has been explained hereinbefore, the principal purpose of this invention is to enable a Welder to easily and quickly adjust the vertical position of the faceprotective shield Aor helmet Yrelative tothe `headgear while the combination fof the two remains in wor-king position on his head. To this end, the headgear attachment means which is hererepresented by the bell crank structure Vmade up of attachmentlarm 21 and bracket arm 22, is rigidly but adjustably secured to its associated latching means, i.e. latch disk 20, by adjustment-screw mechanism.

In this embodiment, such disk 20 is provided with a stem extension 20b which corresponds in length with bracket arm 22 and is disposed in spaced side-by-side relationship therewith. A female-threaded block 24 is pivotally secured to the free end of suchv stem extension 20b, las by means of a Vstub shaft portion 24a thereof passing through a suitable receiving aperture in the stem extension 20b and a spring clip retainer 25 applied to such stub shaft portion in conventional fashion, see Figs. 4 and -5.

The threaded shank 26a of a knurled thumbscrew 26 is passed through van appropriate receiving aperture in bracket member 22a, and is screwed into the femalethreaded passage through block 24, thereby rigidly uniting the bell crank structire 21, 22 ywith latch disk 20.

The Vknurled head 26h of thumbscrew 26 bears against onefaceof bracket member 22a, while a collar 27 aflixed to the -shank of thumbscrew 26 bears against the other face of such bracket member. Thus, thumbscrew 26 is free to rotate relative to the bracket member, but is not latch keeper disk `19 being rigidly associatedwith the shield attachment means, here the stem extension 19a, andlatch disk 20 being rigidly associated with rotatable lheadgear attachment means described hereinafter. In this way, the shield or helmetand the headgear are swing- -able relative to each other about the common -axis provided by pivot pin 14 and from one latched position to 'another as provided by the radial latching ribs and 4grooves of the latch disk and llatch keeper disk, respectively. As is usual, there are four sets of such mating ribs and grooves, dividing the disks into quadrants.

While these would ordinarily give four latched positions, only two are needed. Accordingly, a limit stop member 19e is provided to prevent the shield or helmet from traveling past the customary raised position `thereof sur- Amounting the headgear and headof the wearer.

Theheadgear attachment means in this illustrated embodiment comprises an attachment arm 21 rigidly secured at one of its ends to one of the ends of a ,bracket arm 22, the two .arms extending at right .angles to each other and being non-rotatably mounted at their joined ends on a square shoulder portion 14a, Fig. 4, of the inner end of pivot pin 14. As so arranged, ythe two arms 21 and 22 form an attachment unit of bell crank formatQn having pivot pin 14 as its pivot member. kSuch bell 4,crank lis xed in position upon pivot pinliby I tlpfting the inner end of the latter ,as a rivet, thereby lsqueezing the bell crank against spacing 'washers 23.

axially displaceable relative thereto.

Turning of the thumbscrew either causes the block'to travel along the threading of the thumbscrew shank or such thumbscrew shank to travel valong the threading of block 24, depending upon which is positionally xed relative to the pivot axis in the application of the attachment mechanism, it lbeing noted that the block accommodatesV itself to arcuate travel about the pivot axis by reason of its own pivot or swivel mounting.

With the bell crank unit 21, 22 being rigidly aixed to the pivot pin 14, as it is here, and with this assembly of mechanism and latch disk 20 and its stem extension 20b being vrotatable relative to latch keeper disk 19 and faceprotective shield or helmet 10 as previously described, rotation of thumbscrew 26 will cause the shank 26a of such thumbscrew to travel relative to block 24.

Attachment arm 21 is provided with securement means adjacent its free end, so that the structure illustrated may be attached to Whatever headgear is being worn by a Welder. Accordingly, rotation of thumbscrew 26 will As illustrated, the securement means at the free end of headgear attachment arm 21 is a turn-button receiving opening 28, Fig. l, for receiving a turn-button of the type of quick-coupling structure forming the subject of our copending application for patent Serial No. 631,731, tiled `December 31, 1956, now Patent No. 2,926,357, granted March 1, 1960, and entitled Quick-Coupling Welding Shield and Headgear Combination.

It can be seen that, with the mechanism provided by this invention, a Welder need merely reach up and turn thumbscrew 26 in the appropriate direction to adjust the position of face-protective shield or helmet '10 upwardly or downwardly relative to his face. This can be done both at the beginning of a welding operation and during its progress.

A. construction having certain advantages over the foregoing is illustrated in Figs. 6-9 as applied to the same face-protective shield or helmet 10. Here, Athe mechanism is more compact, affording greater clearance for the headgear within the shield or helmet. Also, the mechanism works more easily, because of the provision of a positive guide yfor back and forth travel of the adjustment-screw-receiving block.

In this embodiment, the pivot pin 30 is shorter than pivot pin 14, although in other respects it and much of its associated structure are identical. Latch keeper disk 31 corresponds to latch keeper disk 19, and latch disk 32 corresponds to latch disk 20, except for its stem extension 32h, whichdiiiers from stem extension 2Gb in the nature of its connection with the female-threaded block 33, as explained hereinafter.

While block 33 corresponds to block 24 and receives knurled thumbscrew 34 in the same manner and for the same purpose as block 24 receives thumbscrew 26, bell crank 3S, 36 is positioned in closely (rather than widely) spaced relationship to latch disk 32 by means of a single washer 37. This positions the bracket-arm-carrying free extremity of stem extension 32b of the latch disk in substantially face-to-face relationship with bell crank arm 36, and interposes bell crank arm 36 between such stem extension 32h and block 33.

The bracket arm 36a is advantageously aflixed to bell crank arm 36 in the same manner as bracket ann 22a is aiiixed to its bell crank arm 22, i. e. by welding, and an elongate slot 38 is provided through and extends transversely of both the free extremity of stern extension 32b and the portion of bracket arm 22a which is fastened thereto.

Stub shaft portion 33a of block 33 extends through such slot 38 to a sliding pivotal connection with the free extremity of latch disk stern extension 32b, here provided by -a narrower slot 39 in such free extremity, see Fig. 9, and the upsetting of the free end of stub shaft portion 33a, as shown. A cylindrical shouldered portion 33b of such stub shaft portion fits into and travels freely along slot 38, which serves as a guide therefor during thumbscrew adjustments of shield or helmet relative to the headgear. Similarly, a corresponding stub shaft portion of reduced diameter lits into and travels freely along slot 39, which serves as a guide therefor during such thumbscrew adjustments.

The slots 38 and 39 are advantageously open at the free ends of the respective members in which they are formed, so as to provide for easy assembly of the mechamsm.

Bell crank arm 36 has an olset portion 36h intermediate its length to accommodate limit stop member 31e of latch keeper disk extending arm 31b, much as in the instance of bell crank arm 22 of the first embodiment.

Whereas this invention is here illustrated and described with respect to specific embodiments thereof, it should be realized that changes may be made within the scope of the following claims, without departing from the essential contributions to the art made by the teachings hereof.

We claim:

l. In a face-protective shield and headgear combination which includes a headgear, an opaque face-protective shield having a front wall provided with a window at eye level and side walls extending rearwardly to define a rear edge margin for the shield, and latching means having coaxial and relatively rotatable, interengaging, latch parts, one of which latch parts has shield attachment means rigidly associated with the shield and another of which parts has headgear attachment means rigidly associated with the headgear, so that the shield and the headgear can be rotated relative to each other from one latched position to another, the combination with said headgear attachment means and said latching means of adjustment-screw mechanism, said mechanism comprising a thumbscrew anchored to said headgear attachment means and having its head exposed and facing rearwardly substantially at the rear edge margin of said shield, where it may be easily grasped and turned in either direction by ai wearer of the shield while the headgear is in place onhis head, the shank of said thumbscrew extending forwardly within said shield; and means anchored to that said latch part which has said headgear attachment means and rement means and the shield attachment means arev mounted in common; the headgear attachment means comprises an attachment arm, having one of its ends mounted on said pivot pin, and a bracket arm extending angularly from said attachment arm `at the opposite end of the latter; and the means securing said headgear attachment means to the thumbscrew comprises a bracket member extending angularly yfrom the free end of saidl bracket arm, said thumbscrew passing through said bracket member and being rotatably anchored thereto. l

4. The combination dened by claim 3, wherein the part of the latching means which is associated with the headgear attachment means includes an arm extending similarly to and generally parallel with the bracket arm of the headgear attachment means; and wherein means are provided rotatably connecting the block with such extending arm of the latching means adjacent the free end thereof.

5. The combination defined by claim 4; wherein the bracket arm of the headgear attachment means is disposed between the block and the extending arm of the latching means in face-to-face relationship with the latter, and is transversely slotted to accommodate the means rotatably connecting the block with the extending arm of the latching means and to accommodate longitudinal movement thereof in the thumbscrew adjustment of the mechanism.

6. The combination defined by claim 5, wherein the arm of the latching means is longitudinally slotted to facilitate rotatable connection of the block therewith.

7. The combination defined by claim 6, wherein the attachment arm of the headgear attachment means and the bracket arm thereof are non-rotatably mounted on the pivot pin, and the latch parts of the latching means are rotatably mounted on said pivot pin.

8. A face-protective shield and headgear combination, comprising a headgear; an opaque face-protective shield provided with a window at eye level and side walls extending rearwardly to define a rear edge margin for the shield; latching means having interengaging latch parts; shield attaching means rigidly and articulatively associated with one of said latch parts; headgear attachment means rigidly and articulatively associated with the other of said latch parts, said latch parts being coaxial and rotatable relative to each other so that the shield attachment means and the headgear attachment means can be rotated relative to each other from one latched position to another; and adjustment-screw mechanism rigidly but adjustably securing said headgear attachment means to its associated latch part of the latching means, said adjustment-screw mechanism including a thumbscrew anchored to said headgear attachment means and having its head exposed and facing rearwardly substantially at the rear edge margin of said shield, where it may be easily grasped and turned in either direction by a wearer of the shield while the headgear is in place on his head, the shank of said thumbscrew extending forwardly within said shield; and means anchored to said latching means and receiving said thumbscrew in threaded relationship.

9. The combination defined by claim 8, wherein the adjustment-screw mechanism comprises a female-threaded block rotatably connected to the latching means; a knurled thnmbscrew screwed vinto the threading of said block; and means securing said headgear attachment means to said thumbscrew against relative axial movement but permitting rotation of said thumbscrew.

10. 'Ihe combination defined by claim `9, wherein there is provided a pivot pin upon which the headgear attachment means and the shield atachment meansV are mounted in common; the headgear attachment means comprises an attachment arm, having one of its ends mounted on said pivot pin, a bracket arm extending angularly from said attachment arm at the opposite end of the latter; and the'means securing said headgear attachment means to the thumbscrew comprises a bracket member extending angularly from the free end of said bracket arm, said thumbscrew passing through said bracket member and being rotatably anchored thereto.

11. The combination deined by claim 10, wherein the part of the latching means which is associated with the headgear attachment means includes an arm extending similarly to and generally parallel with the bracket arm of the headgear attachment means; and whereinrmeans are Iprovided rotatably connecting the block with such extending arm of the latching means adjacent the free end thereof.

12. The combination defined by claim 11, wherein the bracket arm of the headgear -attachment means is disposed between the block and the extending arm of the latcliing means'in face-to-face relationship with the latter, and is transversely slotted to accommodate the means rotatably connecting the block with the etxending arm ofthe latching means Vand to accommodate longitudinal movement thereof inthe thumbscrew adjustment of the mechamsm.

13. The rcombination defined by claim 12, wherein the arm of the latching means is longitudinally slotted to facilitate rotatable connection of the block therewith.

14. The combination defined by claim 13., wherein the attachment arm of the headgear attachment means and the ybracket arm thereof are non-rotatably mounted on the pivot pin, and the latch parts of the latching means are rotatably mounted -on said pivot pin.

'References Cited in the viile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

